December 2018

Letter from the President

by Paul Robear

Happy Holidays!

It was an exciting workshop season at the Cuyamungue Institute in 2018. Thanks to all of you who attended and participated in our workshops this year — we are always inspired by the individual and group experiences we generate together. Each year the experiences broaden and deepen to a more profound level. From Initiatory Training to Advance Training and with the Masked Trance Dance and Instructor Training each gathering is unique, expansive and powerful.

We’re excited to announce the upcoming summer season of 2019 workshops taking place at the Cuyamungue Institute. This year, we are scheduling CI’s main events to coordinate with a few of Santa Fe’s main events — an Artists’ Studio Tour, the International Folk Art Market, and Indian Market. And of course, open all year long, are Canyon Road’s 100 galleries, the many museums from the Georgia O’Keefe to the Institute of American Indian Arts to many historic sites. And as we have done most years, we are also coordinating with the celestial calendar, scheduling workshops over the Summer Solstice and the Fall Equinox, too.

We hope by offering you additional days at CI before or after the workshop of your choice, you will find it convenient and affordable to also enjoy some of what Santa Fe has to offer as a cultural, historic, and art mecca.

We look forward to seeing you in the coming year!

Scroll down for links to articles. Once again, thank you for your continued support of CI !

Blessings,
Paul Robear
President / Executive Director
Cuyamungue: The Felicitas D. Goodman Institute

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2019 Workshops, Events & Training, Cuyamungue Institute – Santa Fe NM

There may be adjustments to dates, times and details, and additional events and workshops will be added. Contact us prior to booking flights and making travel arrangement.


June 17th – 21st, 2019 – Initiatory Training Summer Solstice.
A powerful, compacted introduction to this work! You will be introduced to a succession of consciousness expanding, spirit journey experiences and initiation. Enjoy the power of the group experience on the Summer Solstice. Contact us

Local Event: June 22 & 23 – Santa Fe Artist Studio Tour


July 15th – 19th, 2019 – Initiatory Training – Advanced Course. Art & Spirit.
Here’s a chance to explore art and your creative vision on a new level. We will combine Ecstatic Trance spirit journey sessions with various art exercises in this CI workshop. We will also explore the world’s earliest art, local art from our pueblo neighbors, and conversations with visiting artists about process, nurturing your artistic voice and vision, and “getting in the zone.” We’ll explore how tapping into our creative joy and “flow state” is enhanced through work with Ecstatic Trance postures. Basic Art materials provided. You may bring additional materials for collage. Contact us

Local Event: July 11-14 Santa Fe International Folk Art Market


August 12th – 16th, 2019 – Instructor Training: If you hear the call to become a Certified Instructor and teach the safe and effective process of Ecstatic Trance Postures. There are people around the world who have responded to a deep call to teach The Cuyamungue Method. The fact that you are investigating the process of becoming an instructor is the first step, thank you for your interest. When you feel that call here are the general steps to becoming certified as an instructor. Please feel free to contact us with any and all questions. Contact us

Local Event: August 17-18, 2019 Santa Fe Indian Market


September 20- 24, 2019 Fall Equinox Event.
We will honor the Autumnal Equinox. This is the point after which the nights become longer than the days, as the North Pole tilts away from the sun. This is the time when there is an equal amount of day and night. While we honor the gifts of the earth, this is a time of balance and reflection. We also will look at the clues to the importance of astronomy in ancient cultures. It was a backbone of their social, political, and ritual ideology. Throughout human history the study of the sky has been a vital part of understanding our connection to the universe. The details of our Equinox ritual will include an ancient practice of mapping the Sun while incorporating specific Ecstatic Trance Postures, the power of the land and the magic of the New Mexico sky. Contact us


The Cuyamungue Institute is the international headquarters established by Anthropologist Dr. Felicitas D. Goodman and has provided the home for the discovery and experiences of Ecstatic Trance Postures for over four decades. At the Cuyamungue Institute 472 acre campus, we continue to research and explore Ecstatic Trance Postures as a means to achieve this physiologically-induced shifting of consciousness not through botanicals, drugs or outside agents, but with sonic driving while holding a simple sitting or standing posture among the many depicted in ancient indigenous art.

The ease with which we enter ecstatic trance states demonstrates that this capacity is indeed a natural extension of the human experience. It is part of our ancestral heritage. Our distant ancestors knew this and utilized it for the benefit of their societies. This quest became the life’s work of CI’s founder, anthropologist Dr. Felicitas Goodman. She deduced that some of the art made by pre-agricultural societies represented simple sitting and standing postures that served to focus and enhance altered states of consciousness (ASC) which were induced by a surprisingly simple ritual induction centered on “sonic driving.”

It seems our ancient ancestors were well versed in how to naturally and easily induce an inherent physiological shift to support these expanded states of consciousness that allowed them to commune with an intelligent, sentient cosmos. Dr. Goodman traced this shamanic wisdom tradition’s foundation to the earliest human cultures — some of the most powerful ritual postures are found in the painted caves of Europe. When we follow these “ritual instructions” and hold the postures we achieve a bodily induced shifting of consciousness; a trance experience. The outcome of this is the systematic process of Ecstatic Trance Postures. If you are new this this work we invite you to learn more about us! For more information here is a six minute video overview of The Cuyamungue Institute and our practice.

Thanks for reading! Please forward this to your friends and acquaintances who will enjoy learning more about us, and please let me hear from you! I am most happy answer any and all questions about the Institute or the Cuyamungue Method. We welcome all correspondence. Not already subscribed? Subscribe Here. Email me directly at paulrobear@cuyamungueinstitute.com .

Blessings,
Paul Robear
President / Executive Director
Cuyamungue – The Felicitas D. Goodman Institute

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